Labor Unions

Canada

• What do you think Labor Unions are?

Labor Unions

• 30 % of all paid workers in Canada belong to a labor union. A union negotiates with the employer on behalf of it’s members on issues such as wages, jobs,, working conditions, vacations, pensions… ect. When workers bargain with employers, through unions this is called collective bargaining.

Labor Unions

• Unions do more than bargain with employers, they act as lobby groups at provincial and federal levels. They try to get government to pass laws that will favor unions such as; minimum wage, job-training and new jobs. They also work for the equality of women, old-age pension, and Medicare.

• http://www.history.com/topics/labor/videos#history-of-labor-day

• http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110602/canada-post-110602/

• How does the labor groups change the laws?• What are the groups called that do this?

Role

• Before unions existed, workers often labored for low wages and long hours in unsafe or unhealthy workplaces.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeAvX9mr3gA

• What have unions fought to protect?

definitions

• Lobby group • Political activist• Media• Lobbying• Judicial System

Questions pg 129-133 and from notes

1. What is the job of the Speaker of the House?2. What side do the government and opposition sit in the House of Commons?3. What do unions do other than bargaining with employers?5. Who are the most powerful people in political life?6. Why is the media so powerful in government?

7. What do issues do unions bargain to protect? 8. What do they call the bargaining process between

labor unions and employers?